Stairs. Getty Museum. June 20, 2004. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
I like Southern California’s Getty Museum almost more for the architecture than for the collection – and the collection is pretty good.
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Patriarch Grove
Flowers and Sunset
Flowers at Sunset. Purple Lake. August 4, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell.
Purple Lake is on the John Muir Trail just south of the Mammoth Lakes area. I was there on a recent pack trip with a group of friends.
Due to a late and heavy winter this year, the flowers bloomed a bit behind schedule and were at their peak while I was there. (The mosquitos were also thriving this year, but that is another story!)
Sharp-eyed observers will not be surprised that this photo is a composite of two images shot – on the tripod, of course – at different exposures. One was exposed for the bright sunset light on the peak and the other was exposed for the foreground grass and flowers. The two images were combined and tweaked in photoshop. This is my alternative to carrying the extra weight and bulk of graduated ND filters on the trail.
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Dawn in Dusy Basin
Dawn. Dusy Basin, Sierra Nevada range. August 14, 2005. © Copyright G Dan Mitchell – all rights reserved.
Dusy Basin is a broad, alpine valley in the Sierra Nevada, surrounded by high peaks (up to 14,000+) on all sides. Access is typically over nearly 12,000′ Bishop Pass from South Lake above the town of Bishop on Hiway 395, or by the steep climb from the John Muir Trail as it passes through Le Conte Canyon.
Truthfully, it was a bit later than actual dawn. We had gotten up at 6:00 a.m. and were on the trail less than an hour later, heading out towards Bishop Pass, when I passed by this small grass-filled lake.